This News Made Me Smile A Mile Wide — Like I do every morning, I logged into Techmeme to find this news: — That's an image, sorry about that, here's the link to the WSJ story, but I wanted you all to see how I heard the news. — This is so great on so many levels. Let's start with the first reason.

Genachowski Picked to Head FCC — WASHINGTON - President-elect Barack Obama intends to nominate his technology adviser Julius Genachowski to head the Federal Communications Commission, a source close to the Obama transition team said. — Mr. Genachowksi, 46, is a former Harvard Law School classmate of Mr. Obama.

New FCC Chief Julius Genachowski A Google Net Neutrality Shill? — Former IAC (IACI) counsel and Obama insider Julius Genachowski will be tapped by Barack Obama to run the FCC. Not a surprising pick: Julius had been working on Obama's transition team, and was once rumored to be in the running for federal CTO, only to be ruled out.

iTunes Plus: Everything you need to know — Apple's iTunes Store is almost completely DRM-free, and will be entirely DRM-free from spring. This means files downloaded from iTunes work on heaps of devices that aren't from Apple. What better way to celebrate the final bullet to the living corpse …

Disclosure of information vulnerability in Safari — I have discovered that Apple's Safari browser is vulnerable to an attack that allows a malicious web site to read files on a user's hard drive without user intervention. This can be used to gain access to sensitive information stored …

Confirmed: Delicious Founder Joshua Schachter Joins Google — We've confirmed that Joshua Schachter, the founder of Delicious and a Yahoo exec until June 2008, joins a number of ex-Yahoo'ers at cross-town rival Google. In a phone call Schachter says he hasn't been assigned to a specific project yet …

Obama's new BlackBerry: The NSA's secure PDA? — President-elect Barack Obama checks his BlackBerry while riding on his campaign bus in Pennsylvania last March. — (Credit: Pete Souza/ Rapport Press ) — Bill Clinton sent only two e-mail messages as president and has yet to pick up the habit.

On Open Source and Open Competition in a not-so-Open World — Open Source is global in nature. You can develop a database in, say, Finland or Sweden, and become known in, say, Ukraine or the United States. — This would imply that Open Source knows no borders. — In practice, borders hamper Open Source work a lot.

Privacy Groups Target Android, Mobile Marketers — In a complaint to federal regulators, activists take on the nascent phone-based ad industry. — Amid the buzz surrounding the launch of Google's Android mobile platform last September, the search giant hasn't spelled out just how it will squeeze revenue from its new product.

How Would You Like Your Own, Personal iPhone App? — From InfoMedia, the makers of iFart (an odd reference point, I know, but they obviously know something about creating a popular iPhone app) comes an interesting concept. — CEO of InfoMedia Joel Comm claims that the iPhone applications platform …

Dell said nearing smartphone launch — Dell is getting closer to releasing its long-rumored first smartphone, according to a research note by Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu. Investigations within Dell's supply chain point reportedly indicate that a Dell smartphone is “closer to reality” …

Search Without Effort: The Quick Search Box — One of our goals at Google is to make your search experience as fluid as possible. While much of our work is focused on Google.com, we're trying to make it just as easy to search outside your browser. — For the last year, we have been working on a new, open-source quick search box.

Virus writer signs off in cordial Trojan message to MS — So long, and thanks for all the phish — An unidentified Russian virus writer has reached out to Microsoft with a message buried within a recent variant of the Zlob Trojan. The greeting in the malicious code was friendly and cordial …

How to Get, Install and Play With Windows 7, Pain Free — You've been thinking about installing Windows 7 Beta 1 now that it's totally available to anyone. Well, here's our complete guide to grabbing, installing and playing with Windows 7—it's (mostly) painless, so no excuses! — Are You Ready?

Mashups changing the face of copyright laws — User-generated mashups are changing the face of copyright laws, which have to evolve to catch up with the Internet generation, said Mary Wong, an expert on intellectual property (IP). — The professor of law at the U.S.-based Franklin Pierce Law Center …

Digital rights war looms ahead — The future of digital entertainment rights could turn into a battleground for control in the coming months. — In one corner is Apple, the largest music retailer in the United States. — And in the other is DECE, a US consortium of entertainment …

Did CNN Live Snub Twitter in Favor of Facebook? — CNN and Facebook are partnering to bring you live Inauguration coverage intermixed with Facebook status updates from your friends. It's a neat idea that we happen to love, but with Twitter becoming the standard source for live updates …